From Bristol to Antsirabe

Hello all kind and beautiful readers of my very first blog! Thank you for taking the time and interest to come and read it. Here on this page I hope to update regularly details on my cultural experiences and activities, as a slightly awkward European dropped off in Africa.

My name is Christian Hosking I’m 22 years old. I’m a UK citizen from Hampshire who lives in France, and I have just been released into the real world with a supposed mechanical engineering degree, a love for cycling, an unattractive surf stance and not much else. With no real desire to apply for a ‘real’ job just yet, it was a nice surprise when my friend Abbie told me of a Facebook post she had seen from a friend, with an opportunity for a job as a European tour guide in Madagascar.

Approximate conversation went as follows:

Abbie: “You have nothing going on in your life next year, how about moving to Madagascar for three months?”

Me: “yeah alright, why not. Are there waves?”

She therefore gave me contact details. I exchanged a few emails, sent off my CV, had a phone call, a skype, and a couple of months later I arrived in Antananarivo.

As someone who has always felt a real connection with nature, this trip was very exciting to me to discover the unique biodiversity of the country, and to have once in a lifetime opportunities to see some of the thousands of endemic species of plants and animals that are found on this fabulous island. I am also intrigued and often concerned by human’s efforts, which are often negative, for conservation.

Although I consider myself a traveller at heart, the actual amount of travelling I have done does not amount to much, having only explored morocco several times, Peru for a month, and several cycling tours round Europe. My first gap year couldn’t come any sooner.

I apologise if some of my insights are perhaps naïve, or even incorrect, but these will be my own individual, personal experiences!